Interoffice envelope

ABSTRACT

A two compartment interoffice envelope made from a unitary sheet of stock material folded to define a rectangular back panel, a rectangular intermediate panel hinged to one side of the back panel and folded against the back panel, a rectangular front panel having an opening therein hinged to the opposite side of the back panel and folded against the intermediate panel, a bottom flap hinged to the bottom edge of the back panel and folded against the front panel and a top flap hinged to the fourth edge of the back panel and cooperating with means carried by the front panel to secure contents placed within the envelope. Adhesive securing means are used to secure the front panel to the intermediate panel and to define a pocket adjacent to the opening in the front panel between the front panel and the intermediate panel. The bottom flap is adhesively secured to the front panel. Access to a pad carried in the pocket is available through the opening in the front panel. The top flap secures both material carried in the main body of the envelope between the back panel and the intermediate panel and in the pocket.

1111 3,856,198 [4 1 Dec. 24, 1974 INTEROFFICE ENVELOPE [75] Inventor:Robert S. Daley, Worcester, Mass.

{73] I Assignee: Daley Inc, Worcester, Mass.

[22] Filed: Aug. 27, 1973 211 App]. No.: 391,885

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 264,227, June16, 1972, abandoned, which is a continuation of .Ser. No. 34,494, May 4,1970, abandoned.

52 u.s.c|. 229/71, 229/72 383,281 10/1932 Great Britain 229/72 PrimaryExaminerWilliam Price Assistant Examiner-Stephen Marcus Att0rney,'Agent, or FirmNorman S. Blodgett'Gerry A. Blodgett [57 'ABSTRACT Atwo compartment inte roffice envelope made from a unitary sheet of stockmaterial folded to define a rectangular back panel,- a rectangularintermediate panel hinged to one side of the back panel and foldedagainst the back panel, a rectangular front panel having an openingtherein hinged to the opposite side of the back panel and folded againstthe intermediate panel, a bottom flap hinged to the bottom edge of theback panel and folded against the front panel and a top flap hinged tothe fourth edge of the back panel and cooperating with means carried bythe front panel to secure contents placed within the envelope. Adhesivesecuring means are used to secure the front panel to the intermediatepanel and to define a pocket adjacent to the opening in the front panelbetween the front panel and the intermediate panel. The bottom flap isadhesively secured to the front panel. Access to a pad carried in thepocketis available through the l opening in the front panel, The topflap secures both material carried in the main bodyof the envelopebetween the back panel and the intermediate panel and in the pocket.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FSJEHTEU M324 1974 3,856,198

sumlofz INVENTOR. ROBERT S. DALEY ATTORNEY Pmminnicz 3,856,198

sum 2 If 2 I FIGS.

INTEROFFICE ENVELOPE This application is a continuation of applicationSer. No. 264,227, filed June 16, 1972, now abandoned, which in tum is-acontinuation of application Ser. No. 34,494, filed May 4, 1970, nowabandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application relates to an improvedenvelope and, more particularly, to an improved envelope for interofficeuse. Heretofore, interoffice envelopes have had printed thereon amultiplicity of address spaces.

front panel 12. Securing means are provided on the front panel 12 andthe top flap 14 so that when thetop flap 14-is secured to the frontpanel 12, both pockets 20, 21 are closed. The securing means can be inthe form of a clip 22 attached to the front panel 12 and a After use,the last address was scratched out and a new address was written in thenext available space. In addition to presenting a disorderly appearance,it is necessary to look carefully to determine the next destination forsuch an envelope. The life of such envelope is also limitedby the numberof available spaces thereon.

SUMMARY or THE INVENTION The interoffice envelope of this invention iscomposed of a unitary sheet which is folded so as to define arectangular back panel having an intermediate panel hinged to-one sidethereof and a front panel hinged to the opposite side thereof. Theintermediate panel is folded against the back panel and the front panelis folded against the intermediate panel. Abottom panel is hinged totheback panel and'is folded against the front panel. A stop panel is hingedto the top of the back panel and is folded against and can be secured tothe front p'anel. The envelope thus provides two pockets, the firstbetween the back panel and the intermediate panel and the second betweenthe intermediate panel and the front panel. An opening is provided inthe front panel so that a pad placed in the second pocket'is visiblefrom the exterior of the envelope.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS v The character of the invention,however, may be best understood by reference to one of its strucuralforms, as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED I EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, aunitary sheet is scored to provide fold lines which define a rectangularback panel 10, a rectangular intermediate panel 11, a rectangular frontpanel 12, an end flap l3 and a top flat 14. I

The front panel l2 has an opening 15. In the assembly of the interofficeenvelope, the intermediate panel 11 is folded along score line 16 tooverlie the back panel 10. The front panel 12is folded along. score line17 to overlie the intermediate panel 11. The bottom flap 13 is foldedalong score line 18 to overlie a portion of the front panel 12 and isadhesively secured thereto by ad corresponding hole 23 in the top flap14. The limits of the second pocket 21 can be controlled by usingadhesive securing means to secure that portion of the front panel 12 tothe intermediate panel 11 to define the limits of the pocket 21. Theseadhesive securing means can take the form of adhesive strips 24 whichcan be applied to either the back of front panel 12 or the correspondingside of intermediate panel 11.

In the use of the present invention, material 26 to be forwarded isplaced in the first pocket 20. A routing pad 27 is placed in the secondpocket 21. The top flap 14 is secured to the front panel 12 by securingmeans 22, 23 closing both pockets 20, 21 in one operation. The routingpad 27 can consist of a plurality of ruled sheets each being dividedinto a plurality of spaces for addresses. Thus, the useful life of theenvelope can be extended indefinitely, being limited only by thedurability of the materials from which it is constructed. When one sheethas been used up, the pad 27 can be removed from the pocket 21, the topsheet removed and the pad 27 reinserted. Access to the surface of thepad 27 is had through the opening 15 in the front panel 12 eliminatingthe necessity for removal of the pad 27 for each use. Holes 28 which arein alignment are provided in the back 10, intermediate 11 and front 12panels so that one using the envelope 'can readily determine thepresence of material therein. I

In order to facilitate the insertion of thepad 27 into the pocket 21,the leaves of the padare provided with a cement coating 29 along thebottom edge and one side. In this way, individual pages can be readilyremoved and, yet, when the pad is re-insertedin the pocket, there is nodanger of the top sheets curling, or getting caught, and becomingdetached.

' In FIG. 5 is shown a modified form of the invention wherein thefasteners 31a and 31b for attaching the flap 32 to the body 33 of theenvelope is formed as strips of the substance known as Velcromanufactured by the Velcro Corporation, 681 Fifth Avenue, New York,

'New York, shown and described in US. Pat. No.

2,717,437; 3,009,235; and 3,154,837. The male fastening 31a consists ofa strip of very small plastic strips, while the female fastening means31b consists of a strip of plastic fibre in a padded or fluffycondition.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andconstruction of the invention without departing from. the materialspirit thereof. It is'not, however, desired to confine the invention tothe exact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to includeall such as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus-described, what is claimed-as new anddesired to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A dual pocket interoffice envelope composed of a unitary sheet,scored and folded to define a rectangular back panel, an intermediatepanel hinged to one side 7 back panel and foldedover and against saidback panel, a front panel hinged to the opposite side of said back paneland folded over and against said intermediate panel and substantiallycompletely covering the same, the front panel and the intermediate panelacting as front and back walls of a pad pocket, said front panel backpanel and folded over and against said front panel, securing means onsaid back panel and having means thereon to cooperate with the securingmeans on said front panel to close notonly a relatively large mainpocket formed between the back panel and the intermediate panel, butalso the relatively small pad pocket'formed between the intermediatepanel and the front-panel, and spaced lines of adhesive applied betweenthe intermediate panel and the front panel to define the limits of thesecond pocket to size substantially the same as the pad to maintain theindicia in registry with the window despite handling of the envelope.

2. A dual pocket interoffice envelope as recited in claim 1, wherein theenvelope is provided with a plurality of aligned holes in the front,intermediate and back panels thereof to provide visual indication of thepresence of material therein.

1. A dual pocket interoffice envelope composed of a unitary sheet,scored and folded to define a rectangular back panel, an intermediatepanel hinged to one side back panel and folded over and against saidback panel, a front panel hinged to the opposite side of said back paneland folded over and against said intermediate panel and substantiallycompletely covering the same, the front panel and the intermediate panelacting as front and back walls of a pad pocket, said front panel havinga window therein, a pad residing in the pad pocket each sheet of whichis printed with indicia in registry with the window for a series ofsuccessive addresses, a bottom flap hinged to the bottom of said backpanel and folded over and against said front panel, securing means onsaid back panel and having means thereon to cooperate with the securingmeans on said front panel to close not only a relatively large mainpocket formed between the back panel and the intermediate panel, butalso the relatively small pad pocket formed between the intermediatepanel and the front panel, and spaced lines of adhesive applied betweenthe intermediate panel and the front panel to define the limits of thesecond pocket to size substantially the same as the pad to maintain theindicia in registry with the window despite handling of the envelope. 2.A dual pocket interoffice envelope as recited in claim 1, wherein theenvelope is provided with a plurality of aligned holes in the front,intermediate and back panels thereof to provide visual indication of thepresence of material therein.